tap

The Dutch intelligence services placed 3,553 taps to eavesdrop on people and organizations last year, Ministers Kasja Ollongren of Home Affairs and Ank Bijleveld of Defense reported to parliament on Wednesday. This is the first time that the services' tap statistics are made public, NU.nl reports.

Technicians of Dutch drinking water companies have their hands full today. The icy weather resulted in water pipes and water meters freezing in hundreds of places across the Netherlands, AD reports.

The phones at Vitens, the largest drinking water company in the Netherlands, are ringing non stop, a spokesperson said to the newspaper. "By 11:15 this morning we already received 579 phone calls, considerably more than usual. The icy east wind in combination with the frost causes a lot of damage."

The fiscal intelligence and investigation service FIOD will soon have the capability of tapping prepaid cellphones themselves. Prepaid phones are widely used by criminals as so-called "burner phones" as they are anonymous and therefore harder to tap.